Sooke Coastal Explorations Pod Cast

Wow, what a day here in Sooke! We did get a call from Norm with Gordon’s Beach B&B that Orcas were at Gordon’s Beach. We also received multiple updates from Cal Young (Spencer’s Sport Fishing), Mark Grants Sport Fishing that the whales turned and were now off of Sooke. We arrived to find all the groups (J, K, L), over 60+ whales off of Secretary Island Heading East. All the Orcas were however in a rest pattern during the tour, but still an awsome sight. We did get a chance to go through Race Rocks and finally, Stellar Sea Lions are back. Also a couple of large Elephant Seals were on top of Helicopter Rock.

Today was a great day for Sooke whale watching. We left the Harbour and decided to head west as all reports were showing the Orcas were heading out as of last night. We did get a report from Gotcha Fishing Charters that lots of Orcas were off of Secretary Island. We arrived to find orcas stretched out over a mile heading West. At the end of the tour we identified L-Pod and other vessels stated K & J pod as well. We did have over 60 Orcas, almost a Super Pod, right here off of Sooke!

Today we had two great tours. We did get a call from Mark Grants Sport Fishing again that whales were off of Sooke. What a GREAT DAY to leave from our area.
We did arrive to find a group of L-Pod heading West. Lots of breaching, tail slapping was seen by the group. On our way back I decided to stop by Jordan River when we spotted a large Gray Whale feeding in the shallows.
Our 2nd tour I decided to head West to catch up to L-Pod again. What a terrific ride by the Sea Lion caves, beautiful beaches and Forrest’s all out West. We did get to Port Renfrew when we headed off shore 2 miles and did pick up the Orcas again off of Sombrio Beach. We were the only boat with them and what a treat.

Yesterday was a Hot, Hot day on the water! We had another group of L-Pod come through the Sooke area where we picked them up at Race Rocks. Another Very Large Elephant Seal also at Race Rocks on the ramp taking in the beautiful weather.
This morning we did get a call from Mark Grants Sport Fishing stating 1 lone bull Orca off of Sooke heading East.

Yesterday we did have 2 great trips. Started out the morning with phone calls from Mark
Grants Sport Fishing and Cal Young (Spencer’s Sport Fishing), that whales were inbound.
We did arrive at Race Rocks to find K-Pod that was missing last few days. It was a great
trip with excellent photo ops. Our afternoon tour took us way South of San Juan to find
the K’s and L-12’s. Race Rocks was exciting as well, we did have a large Elephant Seal on
the ramp and a variety of other animals.
This morning we did get a report of 2 adult male Orcas off of Jordan River also inbound
and a large group off of San Juan.

Today was a terrific day. We started out leaving Sooke and headed West as no reports were in yet. We came across a group of L-Pod right in front of Point no Point. The weather was great and the whales were very active. Our 2nd tour we met up with L-Pod off of Beacher Bay, so both tours we did spend a good amount of time with the animals.
Race Rocks was also active with a Elephant Seal, Harbour Seals and Marine Birds.

Today was a fantastic day to be on the water. The weather was terrific and we had a good
show with J-Pod. They were off of San Juan Island split into two groups. One of the
groups headed North while the other was South. Our way back took us through Race Rocks which had an enormous Elephant Seal on the boat Ramp.

Our tour today took us West to Sombrio Point. We did get a call by radio on our way out that Orcas were spotted heading West 3 hrs prior. I decided that we should be able to pick them up past Jordon River. Unfortunately we did not catch up to them but we did run across a magnificent Gray Whale. It was slowly heading West in the Large Swell in 20′ depth of water, I would guess the animal was 30+ feet in length.

Today took us again to the East where J-Pod and K-Pod were together heading towards San Juan Island. These groups were spread out over a mile and most likely had over 40 Orcas. It did appear that they tried to head West last night but then turned back.

Today was spent partially in the fog heading East to K-Pod. It was sure exciting when we
arrived as they were moving 11 knots plus down San Juan Island. Not much activity was
seen with these animals. Everyone still had a GREAT time being right beside them.
We did get a call for the Coast Guard to China Beach for a vessel that ran aground. On
our way we did see several Orcas off of Sheringham moving East. I think tomorrow will be excellent for Whale Watching.